The Beginning
by TotalCSIfan
Summary: This story is a prequel to all my Nick and Jackie stories. Each chapter covers a major event for the couple like how they met, their first date, the wedding and several other events! I hope you enjoy it!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing of CSI

I'd like to thank IceGirl for giving me this idea!

**The Beginning**

Chapter 1: Meeting

Jackie Eastwick and her two best friends Amanda and Ashley were sitting at a table enjoying a late dinner in a downtown Las Vegas hotel restaurant. The three women had been best friends since high school, they did almost everything together, they were inseparable. They went on vacations together every summer and this year they had picked Vegas as their destination because Amanda had never been there before. It was only day one of their 6 day trip and already they were having a blast. They were laughing and joking with one another when suddenly a very handsome man came up to their table.

"Hello ladies my name is Nick Stokes, I'm with the Vegas crime lab, I was wondering if I could ask you some questions?"

He flashed them a kind and easy smile.

Jackie stared at this man, he had the prettiest smile she had ever seen.

"Sure go ahead." Ashley said.

"I'm investigating a murder outside this hotel." He said.

The three ladies gasped in unison.

"Did you ladies happen to see or hear anything strange around 10 o'clock tonight?"

"No but we weren't here, we were at the strip sightseeing." Ashley said.

Nick nodded and then he realized something.

"I never asked you ladies your name, I apologize." He said.

"I'm Ashley, this is Amanda and this is Jackie." Ashley said.

"Nice to meet all of you." He said shaking each of their hands.

Nick thought Amanda and Ashley were attractive but he found Jackie to be beautiful, she had the most incredible dark green eyes he'd ever seen.

"Jackie, if I may say, you have very pretty eyes." He said, as he smiled once again.

"Thank you." She said smiling back.

She could feel herself start to blush. Nick sat down in the empty chair next to her.

"Forgive me for being so bold Jackie, but could I take you to breakfast tomorrow morning?" He asked.

He was never this forward with a woman he had just met but there was just something about her that made him want to get to know her better.

She looked surprised at his request "Yes, I'd like that." She said.

Normally she would never go out with a guy after knowing him for just a matter of minutes but there was just something about him. Something inside her told her to take a chance.

"Great" Nick said smiling at her.

There it was again, that smile of his, it gave her goose bumps.

"Nicky what are you doing?" A voice asked.

A tall African American man walked up to Nick and stood next to him.

"I'm just asking these ladies questions about the investigation." Nick said, standing up immediately.

"Uh-huh" The man said, sounding not at all convinced.

"Ladies this is my friend and colleague Warrick Brown. Warrick this is Amanda, Ashley and Jackie."

"Hello" Warrick said, nodding at the women.

"Hi" all the women answered.

"Have they been able to help you at all with the investigation?" Warrick asked.

"Uh no" Nick said.

"Well I'm going back to the scene, when you're done questioning these pretty ladies, come join me will you?" Warrick asked with a grin, he knew his friend was questioning the ladies, or at least one of them but, he was pretty certain it had absolutely nothing with the investigation.

"Sure, be right there." Nick responded.

"Ok. Ladies it was nice meeting you." Warrick said before walking away from the table.

Nick turned back to Jackie "I get off at 8, how about I meet you in your hotel lobby at 8:30 and we'll go from there?" Nick asked.

"That sounds good." Jackie answered.

"Oh and if I'm late don't give up on me, between traffic and my job I'm hardly ever on time for anything." Nick said.

"No problem" Jackie said and then she told him what hotel she was staying at.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Nick said.

"Ok see you then" Jackie said giving him one last smile.

She watched as he walked away, and she found herself wishing it was morning.

To Be Continued. Reviews appreciated!


	2. Chapter 2

The Beginning

Chapter 2: The First Date

"Jackie, its 6:30 wake up." Ashley said shaking her.

"I don't feel good, who's idea was it to sit by the pool and drink martini's last night?" Jackie moaned.

"You only had 3 drinks all night." Ashley said.

"Yeah well that was two too many." Jackie said rolling over to her other side hoping her friend would leave her alone and let her go back to sleep.

"Well go take a cold shower, that will wake you up." Ashley said.

"Forget it" Jackie said.

"Come on, you have to get ready for your big date with the police officer."

"You go instead." Jackie said.

"He didn't tell me I had pretty eyes, he told you, now get up." Jackie groaned but got up.

She took a shower and afterwards she felt a little better. She came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel.

"Here Jackie wear this." Ashley said holding up an incredibly short mini skirt.

"Ashley are you insane, I'm not wearing that." Jackie said.

"Come on, you want Nick to think you look nice don't you?" She asked.

"Yeah I want him to think I look nice, but I don't want him to think I'm a stripper." Jackie retorted.

"Alright, alright, let's see what else I can find."

Ashley dug through all three of the women's suitcases. The three ladies were all the same size, and they often borrowed each other's clothes.

"Here, how about this?" Ashley said, pulling a full length black skirt from Amanda's bag.

"That's a lot better." Jackie said.

Jackie dug through her own suitcase and pulled out a pretty green blouse.

"How about this to go with it?" She asked.

"That's pretty." Ashley agreed.

"Hold on" Amanda said as she got up and riffled through her suitcase.

"Here wear this blouse instead." She said as she pulled out a yellow blouse.

"What's wrong with the green one?" Jackie asked.

"Nothing, that one is pretty, but you look so nice in yellow and it really brings out your eyes, and you know how he feels about your eyes." She said with a grin.

"She's right" Ashley said nodding in agreement.

Jackie smiled as she grabbed the clothes and went into the bathroom to get dressed. She came back out a few minutes later

"What do you think?" She asked her two best friends.

"Love it" Ashley said.

"Very nice" Amanda agreed.

"Let's go do your hair." Ashley said as she grabbed Jackie by the arm and took her into the bathroom.

Ashley dug through a bag and pulled out the biggest curling iron Jackie had ever seen.

"Yikes Ashley, if you burn me with that thing the next murder Nick will have to solve will be right here in this hotel room." Jackie warned.

"Oh shut up and hold still." Ashley said.

Amanda came in to the bathroom to help too. Jackie was getting excited.

"Did you girls see his smile?" Jackie gushed.

Her friends smiled at her.

"Someone's got a little crush." They teased.

"You girls have to follow us around but don't let him see you." Jackie said.

"What?" Her two friends asked in unison

"Well yeah, we don't know this guy, he could be a serial killer for all we know."

"I'm pretty sure he arrests serial killers, I don't think he is one himself." Ashley said.

"Great, if he kills me he'd know how to get away with it." Jackie said.

Her friends rolled their eyes but agreed to be her secret chaperone.

"Listen Jackie would you do me a favor?" Ashley asked.

"Sure what?" Jackie asked.

"Find out if his friend Warrick is single. He was hot, and his eyes were amazing." Ashley said.

"How am I going to that? Do you want me to just come out and ask a man I barely know if his friend is single?" Jackie asked.

"Well just work it into the conversation somehow." Ashley said.

"I'll do my best." Jackie said rolling her eyes.

"There I'm finished curling your hair, what do you think?" Ashley said.

Jackie looked in the mirror, and she had to admit she looked pretty good. Jackie put on her makeup and squirted herself with perfume while her friends quickly got ready and then the three of them walked down to the lobby so Jackie could meet Nick. Nick was 15 minutes late.

"He's late." Ashley observed looking at her watch.

"Then he should have asked you out instead Ash, you're late for everything." Jackie said with a smirk.

"I am not" Ashley protested.

"You know it's true." Amanda said jumping in and taking Jackie's side.

"Alright, so I have a little problem with getting anywhere on time. But I'm always worth the wait aren't I?" She said.

"Whatever you say." Her friends said teasing her.

Jackie saw Nick heading their way.

"Quick go over there before he sees you." Jackie said, shooing her friends across the room and out of sight.

"Wow, you look fantastic." Nick said as he walked into the lobby.

"Thank you, you don't look to bad yourself" She said.

Nick was dressed in tight blue jeans and a nice red shirt.

"Thanks, you can thank Warrick for that." He said with a laugh.

"Why's that?" She asked.

"Because he promised he'd cover for me if I ducked out of work an hour early so I could go get ready."

Jackie laughed "well then, you owe him one."

"No actually now we're even, he was supposed to work a double the other day but he had football tickets so I covered for him" He grinned.

"He seems like a good friend." Jackie said.

"Yeah, he is, although I think he was a bit jealous today."

"Why?" She asked.

"Because he had to stay at work while I got to sneak off and go on a date with a beautiful woman." He said with a smile.

"Thank you." She said, she could feel herself start to blush again.

"I take it Warrick is single then?" Jackie asked, remembering her ridiculous promise she made to Ashley.

"Yeah, and by the sound of it he's not to happy about it." Nick said with a laugh.

Jackie laughed too.

"Here, these are for you." He said as he handed her a bouquet of long stemmed red roses.

"They're beautiful, thank you so much." She said.

He just smiled at her, and her stomach did flip flops.

"I thought we could go to Shandy's, it's a restaurant just a couple blocks from here and they have really good breakfast food. Does that sound good to you?" He asked.

"Sure" She responded.

"Ok then, let's go." He said.

He opened the lobby door for her.

"_A gentleman, I like that."_ Jackie thought to herself.

He also opened and closed her car door for her.

While at breakfast they talked about anything and everything. Jackie was amazed at how much they had in common. They both loved sports, they both loved to read, they both loved going to movies and they both spent a lot of time with friends. They also both loved their jobs and both took their respective jobs very seriously. To Jackie though the most important thing was how close Nick seemed to be with his family. Jackie herself was extremely close to her family and she wanted to marry someone that had strong ties to their family.

After breakfast Nick took her to a park. The park was quiet which was a stark contrast to the rest of Vegas. It also had a beautiful fountain in it.

"I come to this park to think after a tough case. I love how it is so peaceful." Nick said.

"It's beautiful." Jackie said.

Nick smiled and nodded.

They sat down on the edge of the fountain, they were silent. Each were lost in their own happy thoughts. The silence was interrupted when a lady walking a puppy walked by. The puppy playfully grabbed Nick's shoelace and tugged on it. The lady was mortified

"I'm so sorry sir." She said as she quickly scooped up the puppy.

Nick just laughed "That's alright, I love dogs." He said.

"_He's a dog lover too."_ Jackie thought to herself happily because she loved animals, especially dogs.

After the lady and the puppy walked away Nick stood up.

"Here, make a wish." He said to Jackie as he fished a quarter out of his pocket. She took the quarter, closed her eyes, made her wish and then tossed the quarter into the fountain.

"What'd you wish for?" Nick asked.

"I can't tell you or it won't come true." Jackie said flirtatiously.

Nick grinned at her.

"Should we go?" Nick asked.

Jackie nodded so they started walking back to his car. While walking Nick lightly grabbed her hand. She glanced down at her hand and as she did so her heart began to beat faster.

Nick saw her glance "is that ok?" He asked quickly, thinking he might have made her uncomfortable.

She smiled "Yes, it's more than ok."

Nick smiled as they continued on their way.

Jackie glanced behind her and saw her two best friends trailing the couple a safe distance away. They each had a big smile on their face.

When they got back to her hotel lobby he looked her in the eye.

"I had a wonderful time today." He said, flashing his irresistible smile at her.

"So did I." She said giving him a smile of her own.

"Can I call you tomorrow?" He asked.

"Yes, I'd like that." She said.

He smiled again and Jackie felt her heart melt like butter on a piece of hot toast. They exchanged phone numbers and with one last smile Nick turned and walked out the door. Jackie stared at him until he was no longer visible. She then went up to her hotel room. She sighed happily as she plopped down on the bed. That was the best date she had ever been on.

To Be Continued. Sorry it took me so long to update! Please Review!


	3. Chapter 3

The Beginning

Chapter 3: The Unexpected Visit

Jackie's friends walked into the room just minutes later.

"Going to the chapel and we're gonna get married." They sang teasingly.

Jackie playfully threw a pillow at them.

"You girls are crazy, I've known him less then 24 hours." She said.

"You like him, admit it." Ashley said.

"I do but it's too soon to be thinking about wedding bells." Jackie insisted.

"Huh-uh." Her friends said sounding completely unconvinced.

"So what do you guys want to do tonight?" Jackie asked quickly changing the subject.

"I thought we could go back down to the strip, we didn't get to see everything last night." Amanda said.

"Sounds good to me." Ashley agreed.

"Me too." Jackie said.

The ladies quickly freshened up and then caught a shuttle down to the strip. They all had a good time sightseeing and by the time they got back to the hotel it was really late.

"I'm beat." Ashley said.

"So am I." Jackie said.

Amanda nodded in agreement. They were just about to start getting ready for bed when there was a knock on the door. Ashley quickly went to see who it was.

"Jackie it's Nick." She said excitedly.

"It is not." Jackie said as she turned on the T.V.

"No, I'm not kidding, it is." Ashley insisted.

"Ashley it is not, I didn't tell him what room I was in."

"I don't care, I'm telling you, he is standing outside the door." She said getting frustrated.

Jackie sighed as she went across the room to look for herself.

"Oh my god, it is him." She said completely shocked.

Ashley gave her a look that said _I told you_.

Nick could see someone staring at him through the peephole but he couldn't see who it was.

"Hi, my name's Nick Stokes, I'm with the Vegas crime lab." He said.

"I know who you are, my memory isn't _that_ bad." Jackie said with a smile as she opened the door.

Nick looked shocked to see her but his surprise quickly turned into a smile.

"Oh hi." He said.

"Hi" She said noticing the butterflies in her stomach.

"We are questioning every guest of this hotel about an investigation, Warrick and I split up the rooms by floors, I just happened to get this one." He said.

Then he grinned "But I'm tired and I need a little break, I'll be right back." He said as he turned and walked down the hallway.

About 5 minutes later there was another knock on the door.

"What took you so long?" Jackie said flirtatiously as she opened the door.

She was mortified to discover that it wasn't Nick, but an older gentleman, he was wearing the same type of vest Nick had on.

"Hello" he said sounding surprised by the greeting he had just received.

"I am so sorry sir, I thought you were someone else." Jackie said immediately as she let him in the room.

"No problem." He said smiling kindly at her.

"Ladies, my name is Gil Grissom, I'm with the Vegas crime lab. There have been reports about a beetle infestation in several rooms of this hotel and I was wondering if you ladies have seen any in this room?"

"Beetles?" Amanda asked, sounding totally grossed out.

"Yes" Grissom answered.

"No we haven't seen any." Jackie said.

Grissom nodded respectively and was about to tell the ladies goodbye when his cell phone rang.

"Excuse me for a minute." Grissom said as he reached for his cell phone.

"Grissom" he said answering the phone.

"Hi Warrick, I'm in room 731." He said.

Jackie glanced at her friends and all three gave a small smile at the mention of Warrick's name.

Grissom talked on the phone for just a few more seconds and then hung up. Just moments later there was a knock on the door. Jackie answered the door and Warrick walked in. He was shocked when he realized he recognized the ladies.

"Where's Nick?" Grissom asked Warrick.

"I'm not sure." Warrick admitted.

About two minutes later Nick knocked on the door carrying a tray with four cups of coffee on it. He looked mortified when he saw his boss and best friend standing in the room.

"Oh you went to get us coffee, we were wondering where you were." Grissom said as he took a cup. "Thanks Nick." He added.

"You're welcome." Nick mumbled.

"Who's the extra cup for?" Grissom asked, noticing there were four cups instead of only three.

Luckily Nick was quick on his feet.

"Uh the guy accidently made mine wrong and so he gave me another one and let me keep the extra one as well."

Grissom nodded and took a sip.

Nick was relieved that Grissom had bought the white lie.

Grissom was about to leave when Amanda screamed loudly from across the room.

"What's wrong?" Her friends asked her worriedly.

"Is it a beetle?" Grissom asked sounding almost hopeful.

"No it's a giant spider, Ashley toss me a shoe, quick." She said.

"No wait." Grissom said.

He quickly handed his coffee to Warrick and then hurriedly went over to where Amanda stood. The ladies watched as Grissom took out a container and got down on his hands and knees and captured the spider in his container.

Nick inwardly groaned, he was embarrassed; he put his hand over his face. "_There goes any chance I had with this woman_." He thought to himself with dismay.

Warrick noticed his friends' misery.

"Cheer up man, there are other fish in the sea." Warrick whispered with a smirk.

"Shut up Brown." Nick hissed quietly at his best friend, which lead to another smirk from Warrick.

Grissom got up off the floor with his prize in his hand.

"Thank you ladies." He said with a smile.

"Uh sure, no problem." Ashley said to him, not knowing what else to say.

Grissom then retrieved his coffee from Warrick and then left the room.

"Well ladies, I have many more people to question, it was nice to see you again." Warrick said as he grabbed one of the coffee's out of the tray in Nick's hand.

Nick gave him a dirty look.

"Hey man, if I don't take one, Gris is going to wonder why, so really I'm just helping you out." He said with a smirk as he left the room.

"Why did that man want that spider?" Jackie asked Nick curiously after Warrick had left.

"He's an entomologist, bugs are a hobby of his." Nick explained.

Jackie made a grossed out face and then turned to her friends, by the looks on their faces Jackie could tell that they too felt that bug collecting was an odd hobby.

"Well to each their own." Jackie said turning back to face Nick.

Nick grinned.

"So how well do you know him?" Jackie asked.

"He's my boss." Nick said.

Jackie then gave Nick a sympathetic look.

Nick laughed "He's actually a really nice guy and he's a great boss, he just takes a little getting used to at first."

Jackie smiled at him.

Nick glanced down at the two remaining cups of coffee. "Sorry ladies, I'll have to go get a couple more cups of coffee."

Ashley thought quickly "Uh no, that's ok, Amanda and I are leaving, we are going to go check out the hotel gift shop." She said as she quickly grabbed one of their hotel room keys, and then she and Amanda walked out the door.

Jackie had the urge to run after her friends and strangle them, how dare they leave her in a locked hotel room with a man that was almost a stranger.

"Come sit down." Jackie said politely as she motioned to the little table in the corner of the room.

She was kind of uncomfortable, sure she liked Nick a lot but being in a private hotel room was a lot different then being in a crowed restaurant. Nick smiled and carried the tray of coffees over to the table.

"I hope you like coffee." He said with a smile.

"Are you kidding me, I'm addicted."

Nick laughed "Well then, you'll hopefully like these, but I hope you like hot coffee because that's all I bought, I didn't really think about it, but I guess a lot of people like cold coffee like my friend Sara, she drinks those fancy iced coffees a lot. What about you, do you like hot or cold coffees?" Jackie couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness at the mention of another woman's name.

"Who's Sara?" Jackie asked trying very hard to make her voice casual.

"She's another coworker. Don't tell anyone I told you but I think her and Grissom, you know, the guy that likes bugs, have a little crush on each other." Nick said with a playful smirk.

Jackie was surprised to realize that she was relieved that Sara had a crush on Grissom and not Nick.

Nick gave her a serious look

"You never answered my question." He said.

"What question would that be?" She asked.

"Do you like your coffee's hot or cold?" He said with a playful smile.

"Oh, right, I forgot. Um either one, it depends on my mood." "You're not just saying that because all I brought was hot coffees are you?" Nick asked.

Jackie laughed "Nope, I mean it."

"Ok good, but if you would prefer cold, I can run down and get you a cold one, it won't take me long it's right downstairs in this hotel."

"I know where it's at, Ashley, Amanda and I stopped there shortly after arriving in Vegas." Jackie said with a laugh.

Nick laughed too.

"Hey I warned you that I was addicted."

"That you did." Nick said flashing her a gorgeous smile.

She took a drink of her coffee.

"Actually I do prefer cold." She said.

"Ok" Nick said as he started to get up so he could go buy her cold one.

"I'm only joking." Jackie said as she grabbed his hand so he wouldn't get up.

She noticed that when she touched him she felt electric sparks run through her entire body.

Nick laughed and settled comfortably back in his seat.

"You know, I'm glad you like coffee." He said.

"Why's that?" She asked.

He smiled at her "Because I've always said I enjoy getting to know a woman better by talking with her over a cup of coffee."

Jackie smiled, everything about this man seemed perfect, it was almost too good to be true. They sat and talked for nearly two hours before Nick's cell phone rang.

"Excuse me." He said with a frown as he got up to answer his phone.

"Stokes" He said into his phone.

He talked for a minute and then hung up.

"Jackie, I'm sorry but I better get going, I still have a lot of interviews to conduct and I didn't realize I'd been here for so long." He said.

"Oh ok, I hope you don't get in trouble." Jackie said worriedly.

She loved that they were able to talk so long but she didn't want it to cost him his job or anything.

"Nah, I won't get in trouble, Warrick will cover for me, and even if he doesn't Grissom is in a great mood thanks to that spider." He said with a grin.

Jackie laughed "Ok good."

Jackie stood up and walked him to the door.

"Thank you for the coffee." She said.

"No problem, I'll call you when I get off in the morning."

"Ok great." She said.

He turned and left, she watched him walk down the hallway until he was out of sight.

Just minutes later her friends came back into the room and Jackie laid into them.

"Are you two crazy, why on earth would you leave me in a locked hotel room with a guy I barely know?" She demanded angrily.

"Relax Jackie, we were right outside the whole time, you were never in any danger." Ashley said.

"Oh ok, sorry for going off on you like that then." Jackie said.

Her friends just grinned at her.

"Listen can we get ready for bed now, I'm tired." Amanda asked.

"Sure, I'm tired too." Ashley asked.

Jackie yawned in agreement and so the women got ready for bed and soon after lying down they fell asleep.

The next morning Jackie and Amanda were at the coffee shop. Jackie took a long sip of her very delicious iced coffee.

"You do like iced coffee's better, I knew it." A voice exclaimed.

Jackie looked over startled, Nick was standing there grinning at her.

"Huh-oh, you caught me." She said with a laugh.

"You're missing one, where is she?" Nick asked.

"Huh?" Jackie asked confused.

"Where's your other friend?"

"Oh, she has a headache so Amanda and I thought we'd come down here for a bit and let her sleep for a while."

Nick nodded in understanding.

Then Jackie asked "Why are you still here?"

"Let's just say it's been a very long night." He said.

Jackie noticed how tired he looked.

"Jackie listen, I know I told you I'd call you after I got off but honestly I'm exhausted. Would it be alright if I went home and got some sleep and then I'll call you afterwards?"

"Sure that would be fine." Jackie said.

"Ok good, maybe we can go to a matinee movie or something." He said.

"Yeah sure, I like going to movies." Jackie said.

"Great, I'll see you later then." Nick said and then he took a couple steps forward and then turned back around.

"Enjoy that_ iced_ coffee." He said with a grin.

Jackie laughed "Ok I will." She said.

Nick smiled as he turned and walked away.

Jackie smiled to herself; she was never so excited to go to a movie.

To Be Continued! Please Review!


	4. Chapter 4

The Beginning

Chapter 4: The Last Day

Jackie had a fabulous time at the movie with Nick that afternoon and over the next several days Nick and Jackie saw a lot of each other. Jackie was becoming more and more comfortable with Nick, so much so that she no longer felt the need for her friends to be their chaperones.

Finally it was the day that the two of them had been dreading, it was Jackie's last day in town.

"What time does your plane leave in the morning?" Nick asked her.

The couple was sitting in a quiet little Italian restaurant.

"6:00 A.M" Jackie replied.

"Oh, I'll be at work." Nick said quietly.

"I know." She said sadly.

Despite the fact that she was leaving the next morning they spent the entire day together. After lunch they went for ice cream and then Nick took her to a casino and taught her how to play blackjack, and then that evening Nick took her to a concert. After the concert had ended Nick looked at his watch and frowned.

"Jackie, I'm sorry but its 10:00 o'clock, I better take you back to your hotel so I can go get ready for work."

"Oh ok." She said.

She wanted to cry but somehow she managed not to. He held her hand as he walked her to her hotel room. When they got to her hotel room door both of them just stood their silently in the hallway, neither one wanted to say goodbye. He then glanced at his watch again, it read 10:45.

"I gotta go." He said so quietly she could barely understand him.

She just nodded, she knew that if she said a word tears would start running down her face.

"I had an incredible time getting to know you. You are one special lady, don't ever forget that." He said.

Nick leaned in and gave her a very light kiss on the lips. That was their first kiss and both knew that it could very well be their last.

"Goodbye Jackie." He whispered.

"Goodbye Nick." She managed to say before tears started trickling down her face.

He gave her one last sad smile before he turned around and headed down the hallway towards the elevator. She quickly ran into her hotel room and sat on the bed and sobbed uncontrollably.

To Be Continued! These next few chapters will be short and then they'll get longer again! Reviews appreciated!


	5. Chapter 5

The Beginning

Chapter 5: Her Reaction

Jackie's friends were sitting in their hotel room waiting for her. They knew she would be upset. They had known Jackie a long time and they had never seen her fall for a guy like she had fallen for Nick. Sure she had had high school crushes but nothing this serious. These past few days with Nick was the happiest they had ever seen her. Right now though she was devastated. They sat on either side of her and put their arms around her.

"Are you ok?" Ashley asked.

"No" Jackie said standing up and going into the bathroom.

She shut the door, she didn't feel like talking.

"Jackie we got ice cream, your favorite, chocolate chip cookie dough." Amanda said.

Ice cream was all three of the friend's favorite comfort food and they knew that Jackie might need a little cheering up so they made sure to pick some up on their way back to the hotel that evening.

"No thanks, I don't want any ice cream." Jackie said.

"Alright then, what _do_ you want?" Amanda asked.

"I want it to be yesterday." Jackie said.

Ashley and Amanda looked at each other and sighed, they didn't know what they could do for Jackie.

**As always reviews much appreciated!**


	6. Chapter 6

The Beginning

Chapter 6: His Reaction

"NICKY" Warrick said as he reached his hand out to stop his best friend from walking out into the street in front of a fast moving car.

"What's wrong with you tonight man?" Warrick asked his best friend.

They were in the middle of processing a 419 on the side of a busy highway, but instead of helping Warrick collect evidence Nick was walking around like a zombie.

"What?" Nick asked, snapping out of his fog.

"You haven't said two words all night, you're not helping me process the scene, and you just about got yourself ran over."

"Sorry Rick, I just have a headache that's all." Nick said.

"I don't think you have a headache, I think you have a disease." Warrick replied.

"What are you talking about?" Nick asked somewhat angrily.

"I think you have a disease called Jackie-itis." Warrick said with a smirk.

Nick gave him a dirty look "I don't want to talk about it." He said.

"What is it about this girl that's got you so out of it? You've had girlfriends before, but you've never acted like this" Warrick asked.

"I don't know, there's just something about Jackie, she's, I don't know, special." Nick said, sounding glum.

"If she's so special why are you acting like your dog died?" Warrick asked.

"Because she goes home tomorrow." He replied.

"So?" Warrick asked.

"What do you mean so? She lives 3 states away." Nick said getting frustrated.

"That doesn't mean that you can't still have a relationship with her." Warrick reminded him.

"I know but long distance relationships are so hard and they hardly ever work out."

"Well I'm not going to say long distance relationships are easy, but with cell phones, email, and social networking sites it's a lot easier then it used to be, and if it's meant to be you two will find a way to make it work."

"_He's right"_ Nick thought to himself.

He smiled at his best friend "Thanks Rick" He said.

"Sure, now will you help me process? There is a lot of blood here." Warrick said.

"You got it." Nick replied.

"Oh and be careful before you get hit by a car, if that happens Jackie will have to postpone her trip home just so she can attend your funeral." Warrick said with a smirk.

"Duly noted." Nick said as the two of them got to work processing the scene.


	7. Chapter 7

The Beginning

Chapter 7: The Lift

Jackie and her friends were getting the last of their things packed in preparation for the flight home. Their plane left in two and a half hours.

"Are you ready to go Jackie?" Amanda asked.

"Yeah." Jackie answered with a sigh as she continued to stare blankly out the window.

"Ash hurry up, we have to leave for the airport soon." Amanda said to the closed bathroom door. Ashley opened the door.

"Ok, I'm almost done, I just have to put on my mascara." She said.

Amanda decided to put some lip gloss on, and just as she was starting to dig through her make-up bag someone started knocking on the door.

"Jackie, would you get the door?" Ashley called.

Jackie opened the door.

"Nick" she exclaimed happily.

"Hi, do you ladies need a lift to the airport?" He asked with a friendly smile on his face.

"Sure, but I thought you had to work." Jackie said.

Nick grinned at her. She laughed

"Let me guess, Warrick's covering for you, isn't he?"

"Yup." Nick answered with a smile.

"Well thank him for me." Jackie said.

"Will do." Nick assured her.

Soon the ladies were piling in Nick's truck. Ashley and Amanda sat in the back while Jackie sat up front with Nick. Nick held her hand all the way to the airport.

When they arrived at the airport Ashley said "Jackie, we'll go check us all in, we'll meet you back here when we are finished."

"Ok thanks" Jackie said, she was grateful that she got a few more minutes alone with Nick.

Once her friends were gone Nick again grabbed her hand. "Listen Jackie, I don't know how you feel, but I don't want this to be goodbye for good."

"Neither do I." Jackie said.

A slow smile spread across Nick's face. "Ok great, I'll call you then if that's ok?" Nick asked.

"I'd love that."

"Jackie, I'm sorry but we have to go, there is a long line to get through security." Amanda said.

Jackie looked over and saw her two best friends were smiling at her.

"I better go." Jackie said, not at all wanting too.

Nick leaned in and gave her a small kiss. "I'll call, I promise." He said.

She nodded as tears once again began to fill her eyes.

Nick let go of her hand and watched until her and her friends were through security. Jackie turned back one last time and gave him a slight wave before disappearing out of sight.

Soon they were on the plane waiting to take off. A single tear was ran down Jackie's face.

"He said he'd call." Amanda said trying to cheer her up.

"Amanda all guys say they will call, but do they ever?" Jackie said.

"Some do." Amanda answered.

Jackie gave her a skeptical look and then just stared out the window.

"Are you going to tell your parents about him?" Ashley asked.

"No, probably not, I don't know what I'd say."

Ashley nodded and then turned her attention back to the magazine she was reading.

Before any of them knew it the flight was over and they were back in their hometown. The friends all said their goodbyes to each other and then headed back to each of their respective apartments.

Jackie had just gotten home and started unpacking her suitcase when her phone rang. She assumed it was Ashley or Amanda so she didn't even bother looking at the caller I'D before she answered.

"Hello" she answered.

"Hi, how was your flight?" a deep voice asked and goose bumps began to form on Jackie's arms.

"It was good, it didn't crash, so that's always a good thing."

Nick laughed "Yeah, I'd say that was the most important thing when you are talking about an airplane."

Jackie laughed too "I agree."

Nick then turned serious "Listen Jackie, I haven't been able to get you off my mind since you left. I've been thinking about how we could possibly make this work and I thought that if possible we could take turns coming to visit each other every couple of months. I'll come to visit you in a couple of months since you just left Vegas. Does that sound like a good plan to you?"

"It sounds like a wonderful plan."

"Great." Nick said, and Jackie could almost see his handsome smile. "And of course we can call each other all the time." He added quickly.

"Of course." She said.

"Ok then, I will talk to you soon and I will see you in a couple of months." Nick said.

"Ok bye Nick." Jackie said.

"Bye Jackie." Nick answered before hanging up the phone.

Jackie was so exited she was shaking and her heart was about to beat out of her chest. She immediately dialed Ashley's number.

"Hello" Ashley answered.

"Ashley he called." Jackie screamed into the phone.

"No way, already, what did he say, and don't leave out any details." Ashley said.

"He said that he couldn't get me off his mind and that he wants it to work out between us and so he has devised a plan."

"And what's the plan?" Ashley asked impatiently.

"He said that he wants us to take turns visiting each other every couple of months and that he'll come visit me in a couple of months since I just left Vegas."

"Oh my God Jackie I am soooo happy for you. Did you call Amanda and tell her?" Ashley said nearly screaming into the phone.

"Thank you, and no not yet, I am going to call her right after I get off the phone with you." Jackie said.

"Ok then, I am going to hang up so you can call her, she will be excited too." Ashley said.

"Alright, talk to you later." Jackie said and then the two friends hung up.

Jackie immediately called Amanda and told her what had transpired and just as Ashley had thought she was extremely happy and excited for Jackie.

After Jackie had hung up with Amanda she finished unpacking her suitcase. She didn't know the last time she had been this happy but she knew one thing for sure, she wanted these next couple of months to fly by because she couldn't wait to see Nick again.

**As always reviews appreciated!**


	8. Chapter 8

The Beginning

Chapter 8: Nick's Visit

Jackie's heart was about ready to beat out of her chest because she was so excited. She was at the airport waiting for Nick to arrive. The two month wait was finally over, in just a matter of minutes Nick and her would once again be reunited. She glanced at the screen for arrival flights and noticed with dismay that Nick's flight had been delayed 10 minutes. _"Oh well, I've waited this long, another 10 minutes won't kill me."_ She thought to herself. Nick and Jackie had talked on the phone nearly every day since Jackie had left Vegas and while the phone calls were wonderful nothing beat seeing each other in person. After what seemed like a lifetime she saw Nick walking down the escalator. He flashed her a huge smile the second he saw her.

"Hi." He said wrapping her in a sweet embrace after he navigated through the big crowd of people.

"Hi." She said back with a smile.

She noticed how fantastic he smelled.

"I've missed you." He said with a smile as he kept her in his embrace.

"I've missed you too." She said.

Finally he let her go so she grabbed his hand.

"Come on, the baggage claim is this way." She said as she led him to her right.

"Oh, I didn't check any bags, I only brought one suitcase. I figured since I am only staying for two days I would pack light." He said as he nodded to the suitcase he had by its handle.

Jackie looked at the luggage. "Um, I hope you have a warm coat in there, it's getting cold here." Jackie said.

"I have a light jacket." Nick told her.

"You might be sorry then, you're not in Vegas anymore you know." She said with a chuckle.

Nick laughed, "I think I'll be alright, just don't let me die of hypothermia alright?"

"Ok, I'll keep an eye on you, if you start turning purple, I'll take you to the ER." She teased.

"That's very thoughtful of you." He said with a grin.

"I'm a very nice person." She said with a smirk.

"I know." He said quietly and once again he flashed her a smile. Jackie could feel herself start to blush.

"Should we go then?" Jackie asked.

"Sure." Nick said so she led him to her car.

"So what do you want to do while you're here?" She asked him as they drove away from the airport.

"I don't know, I've never been here before. Actually I've never been in this state before. What is there to do here?" He asked.

"Honestly, not a whole lot, this isn't exactly a tourist city, like Vegas is."

Nick laughed, "No place is like Vegas."

"That's true, but really, there isn't a lot to do here." She said.

"Well what do you and your friends do for fun?"

"Well, we go to a lot of movies, we go to coffee a lot too. We also bowl and go out for lunch quite often."

"So you like to bowl?" He asked.

"Yeah but honestly I'm terrible at it." She admitted.

"I could teach you, I was in a league once."

"That's awesome, and yes, I would love the help."

"Ok great." He said with a grin.

"Oh and there is one other thing we have to do while you're here." She said

"What's that?"

"Well since we both love coffee, you have to try this coffee shop here, it has the best coffee you will ever taste. Whenever I go on vacation I like to go to different coffee shops just to see if the coffee is as good as it is here and nowhere has even come close."

Nick laughed "You weren't kidding when you said you were addicted were you?"

"No." She said with a smile.

"So where is this amazing coffee shop?" He asked.

"There are several locations around the city, actually there are several around the state. This is the only state that has this chain of coffee shops. Sadly enough that's about the only good thing about this city."

Nick laughed "If you hate it here so bad why don't you move?"

"I am really close to my family, but really they are the only thing keeping me here."

Nick nodded, he understood how hard it was to leave family, that was the one downside about taking the job at the crime lab in Vegas, but luckily for him, his team was like family now so it made leaving home much easier.

"So I was thinking tonight we could go to dinner and a movie. It's kind of late to do anything else, nothing really stays open very late here. Does that sound ok to you?" Jackie asked.

"Sure, sounds great." He said.

"Alright, we'll go drop off your stuff at my apartment and then we'll go."

When they pulled up to her apartment Nick looked somewhat surprised.

"Is something wrong?" She asked.

"No, not at all, I was just thinking how quickly we got from the airport to your apartment. I guess I'm just used to Vegas traffic, in Vegas it takes a while to get anywhere."

"It gets busier during rush hour, but I'm sure traffic here is nothing compared to Vegas traffic. Most people hate traffic but honestly I don't mind it, I just relax and listen to the radio." She said.

"Yeah I don't mind it all that much either, it gives me some time to think about things. It can get irritating sometimes though when you have to deal with it everyday, but I grew up in Dallas and now live in Vegas so I'm used to it."

"I bet." Jackie chuckled.

Nick grabbed his suitcase from the car and then walked with Jackie to her front door. As soon as Jackie opened the door Nick was almost knocked over by Jackie's yellow lab.

"Annabelle get down." Jackie scolded, but as usual she didn't listen.

"Sorry about that Nick, she's really friendly, she loves people."

"She's alright." Nick said laughing as he got down on his haunches and petted the dog.

"Here give her one of these and she'll be your best friend forever." Jackie said as she went to her pantry and pulled out a dog treat.

She handed it to Nick and the dog took it gratefully and then ran into the other room to eat it.

"Annabelle, that's a pretty name." Nick said.

"Thanks but I didn't name her. She's a rescue and she was older and already named when I got her so I figured it would be mean to change her name."

"That's nice that you rescued her."

"When I was looking at getting a dog I knew I wanted it to be a rescue dog. Her first owner was really cruel to her. I don't know if you noticed but she has a scar on her left side, she got that because her first owner burned her with a cigarette lighter."

"How sad." Nick said looking disgusted.

"Yeah, it's horrible, luckily though the owners' neighbor reported him and Annabelle was taken away from him. She then went to a pet adoption agency and that's where I found her. The only problem is that I wanted a watch dog because I live by myself and the only help she would be if someone ever broke in would be that she would give me time to run away while she licked the perpetrator to death."

Nick laughed. "She sure is friendly for being mistreated like she was." He said.

"Yeah she is, it's amazing actually." Jackie said.

About two minutes later Annabelle came back and dropped her tennis ball right at Nick's foot. Nick laughed and picked it up and threw it across the room and the dog happily ran to get it.

"Bring it here girl." Nick said as he clapped his hands against his legs.

"Or not." He said with a laugh as the dog took the ball and ran into the other room.

"She doesn't exactly get the concept of fetch." Jackie said.

"I see that." Nick chuckled.

"Let me show you your room." Jackie said.

Nick grabbed his suitcase and followed her into the spare bedroom.

"And you get your own bathroom too, its right this way." Jackie said leading him out of the bedroom. "Make yourself at home, and don't be shy." She added.

"Thank you, but it wouldn't have been a problem for me to stay at a hotel." He said.

"Nonsense, that would have been silly, I have plenty of room."

He smiled at her.

"Should we go eat, I'm getting kind of hungry." She said.

"I am too actually." Nick agreed.

"Ok, do you like Italian food, there is a cute little place not far from here that I really like."

"That sounds good to me." He said.

They had a nice dinner. Talking and joking with one another. Jackie was so happy to see him and by the way Nick kept smiling she was pretty sure he felt the same way.

After dinner Jackie asked him "So what movie do you want to see? The only kind of movie I won't watch is a horror or thriller movie, I'm a chicken."

Nick laughed "That's alright I get enough horror at work, I don't need more. What kind of movie do you like?"

"Comedies are my favorite but I'll watch anything."

Nick grinned at her "Except for horror or thriller right?"

Jackie laughed "Right." She answered.

"I like comedies too, who doesn't like to laugh right?" Nick said.

"That's what I have always thought too." Jackie said.

When they got to the theater they picked a movie and then Jackie fished money out of her purse.

"What are you doing?" Nick asked.

"The movie is my treat, you bought dinner, not to mention the cost of your plane ticket to come out here."

"No, put that away." Nick said nodding towards the money in her hand.

"I'm paying." Jackie insisted.

"No, a gentleman never lets a lady pay. Except when the gentleman forgets his wallet." He added with a grin.

Jackie laughed "Does that happen a lot?" She asked.

"No, but if you ask my coworker Catherine she might tell you different."

Jackie laughed again.

Nick paid for the movie ticket, and when they ordered a popcorn and pop Jackie started digging in her purse for money.

"Don't even think about it." Nick said.

So Jackie sighed and let him pay for that as well. The movie was one of the funniest movies Jackie had seen in a long time. When they made it back to her apartment it was pretty late so they decided to call it a night.

The next morning Jackie woke up early and made pancakes. Nick woke up just as she was finishing.

"Hi." She smiled.

"Morning." Nick greeted with a smile of his own.

"I hope you like pancakes." She said.

"Love um, but you didn't have to make me breakfast."

"I know but I wanted too." She insisted as she set a plate in front of him.

"Thank you." He said as a warm smile spread across his face.

She sat down next to him with a plate of her own.

"So what do you want to do today?" Jackie asked.

"Well I was thinking I could give you those bowling lessons if you want." Nick said.

Jackie looked skeptical.

"We don't have to if you don't want to." He assured her.

"It's not that I don't want to, it's just that I don't want to embarrass myself." She admitted.

Nick chuckled "No reason to be embarrassed, that's how you learn."

She smiled, Nick just couldn't get any sweeter.

"Alright then, I'll give it a shot." She said.

They finished their breakfast and then got ready and headed to the bowling alley.

"Do you promise you won't laugh?" Jackie asked.

"You have my word." He said raising his right hand.

She threw the ball and was surprised when it actually knocked down three pins.

"That's not that bad." Nick said.

"No, but it's certainly not good either." She chuckled.

She threw it again and this time got a gutter ball.

"There, that's more like how I normally bowl." She mumbled.

Nick smiled at her, not a mocking smile, more of a sympathetic smile.

"Try to keep your wrist straight. You do a good job when you throw the ball but then when you let it go, you turn it your wrist. If you would just keep it straight on the follow through I think you would do well."

He retrieved the ball from the ball return and walked up behind her. He handed her the ball and got really close to her

"May I?" He asked.

She nodded so once she had her fingers in the finger holes of the ball her grabbed her arm.

"But it's your turn, trust me, you don't want me to bowl for you."

Nick laughed, I don't care about the score." He assured her.

"On the count of three, throw it." He said.

She felt her stomach do flip flops as she felt his warm breath on her skin.

"Just relax, the ball can sense fear." He said with a grin.

She laughed and tried to calm down.

"Ok ready?" He asked and she nodded.

"One, two, three." He said so she threw the ball,

Nick did the best he could to hold her wrist straight and to Jackie's surprise all but one pin fell down.

"See, that's all there is too it." He said with a smile.

She grinned at him triumphantly.

"One more thing, try to find your sweet spot on the floor."

"What's that mean?" she asked feeling stupid.

"Ok, these spots on the floor." He pointed and then continued "If you are successful with where you stood the first time, don't move from that spot."

"That makes sense." Jackie said.

She did as Nick instructed, and to her shock she picked up the spare.

"Nice job." He said giving her a high five.

By the second game Jackie was doing much better, she wasn't anywhere close to Nick's score but she was definitely making improvements. Nick even threw a couple gutter balls himself but Jackie was pretty sure that was just to make her feel better, even though Nick wouldn't admit it.

"I think I am getting the hang of this." Jackie said.

They were on their fourth game and she was not only getting better but she was also having so much fun. Jackie had spoken too soon though, because the next time she threw the ball it accidently slipped out of her hand and went rolling very slowly down the lane, so slowly that it stopped in the middle of the lane, it didn't even reach the pins!

Jackie could feel her face getting beat red.

"Oops." She mumbled.

She had no idea how she was going to get the ball back, she knew she would fall on her face if she tried to go get it. She looked at Nick and he was grinning from ear to ear.

"You promised you wouldn't laugh at me." She reminded him.

"I'm not laughing, I'm smiling, there is a big difference." He said.

"I'm not sure I believe that." She mumbled.

"You should believe it." He said still smiling.

"I'll get your ball." He offered, as he very carefully walked on the edge of the gutter.

When he reached the ball he gave it a shove towards the pins and it knocked down eight of them.

"Thank you." She said when he had gotten back to his seat.

"No problem." He said with a grin.

"Hey Nick?"

"Yeah?"

"Is my face all red?"

"Yup, extremely."

"Thought so." She said with a grin of her own.

"Don't feel bad though, that happened to my little niece too the last time I took her bowling."

"How old is she?" Jackie asked.

He smirked "She's four."

"Wonderful." She mumbled and Nick couldn't help himself, he burst out laughing.

He once again came up behind her "You are extremely cute when you're embarrassed. Did you know that?"

"No but that's a good thing to know." Jackie said with a smile.

They bowled one more game and then Jackie said "My wrist is getting tired, do you want to take a break?"

"Sure, my wrist is starting to hurt a little too, and I'm thirsty, let's go grab a soda."

They went into the little snack bar area, ordered a soda and sat down.

"You really are getting much better at bowling." Nick said as he took a sip of his drink.

"When my ball actually reaches the pins you mean?" Jackie said with a grin.

Nick laughed "Yeah."

Nick's phone started to ring. He glanced at the caller ID _Warrick Brown_.

"I'm sorry, but I better take this." He said.

"No problem." Jackie assured him.

"Stokes." He said answering the phone.

Nick paused and then said "Hittie, yeah I recognize that name, Dale Hittie, was one of the victims of that triple you and I worked out in Henderson about a month ago, maybe Dan Hittie is a relative?"

Nick paused again to listen to what Warrick said and then said "No problem man, good luck."

Another pause "Yeah she's sitting right here." Nick said as he looked at Jackie.

"Warrick says hi." He told her.

"Hi Warrick." Jackie said with a smile.

"She says hi." Nick said relaying the message back to Warrick and then he added

"Alright talk to you later."

After that he ended the phone call.

"Sorry about that, he had a question about a case he's working on."

"No problem, but don't you guys work nights?" Jackie asked confused.

"Technically, but we work a ton of doubles, sometimes even triples."

"That must be hard."

"It's not as bad as you'd think, and it really helps that our team gets along so well."

"That's good." Jackie said.

Nick nodded.

Jackie then looked at him and said "I was thinking that after dinner we could go to the coffee shop, would that be ok?"

"Ah yes, the infamous coffee shop." Nick said with a grin.

Jackie laughed, "Does that mean you want to go?" she asked

"Sure" Nick said.

"Alright, and is alright if my friend Lucy meets us there, she really wants to meet you."

"Sure, I'd like to meet her." Nick said with a smile.

Jackie returned the smile. "Lucy and I are a lot alike." She said.

"How so?" Nick asked.

"Our personalities are very similar, I think that's why we are such close friends." She said.

Nick smiled "Well if she's anything like you I'm sure I will like her very much."

"You're very sweet." She said, she could feel her face getting red again.

"What do you say we bowl a couple more games and then head to dinner?" Jackie asked.

"Sounds good to me." Nick said.

So the couple bowled two more games and then headed to a nearby Chinese restaurant.

After dinner Jackie called her friend Lucy and asked if she wanted to meet them. Lucy readily agreed to meet them for coffee.

When they got to the coffee shop Lucy was already there waiting for them.

"Nick this is Lucy, Lucy this is Nick." Jackie said introducing the two of them.

"Nice to meet you Lucy." Nick said extending his hand.

"Likewise, I've heard a lot about you."

"All good I hope."

"Yes, all good." Lucy assured him. All three of them laughed.

"Let's order." Jackie said as she stood up and started towards the counter.

"So Lucy Jackie tells me this place has amazing coffee, is it true or is she exaggerating a little?" Nick asked as he grinned at Jackie.

"No she's not exaggerating at all, they have awesome coffee here."

"Good, I can't wait to see for myself." He said.

When they got to the counter the lady asked Nick what he would like.

"What's good here?" Nick asked.

"A mocha frappe." Jackie and Lucy answered in unison.

Nick laughed "I think I'll have a mocha frappe please."

"What size?"

Nick looked at the menu on the wall "A 16 ounce please."

"With what base?" the woman asked with a smile on her face.

Nick looked at Jackie

"Vanilla." She whispered.

"Um vanilla."

"Would you like whip cream on top?"

Again Nick looked at Jackie. She shook her head yes and so Nick said

"Yes please."

Lucy ordered the same thing as Nick did.

Lucy got her money out to pay.

Nick shook his head. "Here we go again." He said.

Lucy looked at him like he was crazy.

"What?" She asked.

"What is it with you women in this state, do you _all_ have a problem with letting the guy pay?" He asked with a grin, and Jackie just laughed.

"Oh that's ok, you don't have to pay for mine." She assured him.

Nick looked at Jackie and rolled his eyes and then turned his attention back to Lucy and asked her "Are you not going to sit and visit with us?"

"Yes." She said tentatively, she didn't know where Nick was going with this.

"And are you one of Jackie's best friends?"

"Yes."

"Well then, I am paying, end of story." Nick said.

Lucy looked at Jackie and Jackie just smiled at her and said "Just roll with it Lucy."

"Thank you Nick." Lucy said.

"No problem." Nick assured her.

Jackie ordered her coffee next and she ordered the same thing that Lucy and Nick did.

They sat down to wait for their coffees to be made.

When the coffees were ready Nick said "I'll get them."

He got up and went back to the counter.

Jackie turned to her friend. "So what do you think?" She whispered to Lucy.

"Oh my God when is the wedding?" Lucy gushed.

Jackie laughed "So you like him then?"

"Yeah, he's gorgeous and he seems so sweet."

"He is." Jackie said beaming from ear to ear.

Jackie was relieved that Lucy liked him because there was something to be said when your friends didn't like your boyfriend.

Nick came back carrying the coffees.

"Thanks." Jackie and Lucy said.

"You're welcome." Nick said.

"Well what do you think?" Jackie asked as soon as Nick took a drink.

"You two are right, this coffee is amazing." Nick said.

"I'm glad you like it." Jackie said with a smile and then added "But now you're going to hate me because you won't be able to find coffee that tastes this good anywhere else."

"I could never hate you." Nick said with a sincere smile.

Jackie blushed and it was everything Lucy could do to not squeal out loud.

The three of them sat there and talked for a nearly two hours.

When Nick and Jackie finally got back to her apartment they played board games before going to bed.

The next morning Nick made her breakfast. While he did that she tried to think of something fun they could do.

"Hey Nick would you like to ride go carts? They have a very small amusement park here that has them." Jackie said.

"Sure that sounds like fun, I haven't been on one of those for a long time."

So after breakfast they went to the amusement park. First they played ski ball, then they played whack a mole. After that Jackie beat Nick at a game of air hockey. Finally they rode the go carts.

They were having a great time, Nick gently bumped her car and Jackie laughed so Nick did it again, harder this time, but suddenly a man that worked for the park came running towards them.

"Sir, these are not bumper cars, please do not hit the other cars." The man told Nick and he was not very polite about it.

Nick apologized profusely and when their turn ended Nick quickly grabbed Jackie's hand and then they hurriedly left the park. Jackie was laughing so hard she couldn't control herself, tears were streaming down her face.

Nick grinned at her and said "It's not very nice to laugh at your guest Jackie."

"I'm sorry Nick." She said but she couldn't help herself, she just kept laughing.

Luckily Nick found the humor in the situation and joined in on the laughter.

"What do you want to do now?" She asked and then with a smirk added "I say we go back and ride the go carts again."

"No way." Nick said with a laugh.

Jackie laughed too.

"There is a nice dog park that I take Annabelle to a lot, the scenery is pretty there. Would you like to go there?" She asked.

"Sure." Nick said.

So Jackie and Nick drove home and got Annabelle and then headed to the park.

It was a very nice day out and so they stayed at the park a few hours. Nick tried to teach Annabelle the correct way to play fetch but despite Nick's best efforts she still would not bring the ball back when he threw it unless he chased her and wrestled it away from her.

When they finally went home Jackie fed and watered Annabelle and then Nick and Jackie went to dinner.

"I can't believe you have to go home tomorrow, the time has gone by so fast." Jackie said sadly.

"I know, I'm sorry I couldn't stay longer, but I just couldn't take anymore time off of work." He said.

"That's ok, two days are better then nothing."

"A lot better." Nick agreed with a smile.

"What time does your plane leave tomorrow?" Jackie asked.

"11:30" Nick answered. "Good then we'll have time to go out for breakfast before you leave." Jackie said happily.

After dinner the couple went home and played cards.

"I haven't played cards for so long, it's too bad to because when I was growing up my family played all the time." Nick said.

"Really? My family used to play all the time too."

"What game did you play?" Nick asked.

"500 rummy." Jackie answered.

"I don't think I've ever played that before." Nick said.

"I could teach you if you want." Jackie offered.

"Sure, I'd like that." Nick said.

"It's not very hard." She said as she dealt the cards.

Nick learned the game quickly, he even beat her the second game.

"Let's play a tie breaker, whoever wins this game is the 500 rummy champion." Jackie said with a grin.

"You're on." Nick said with a laugh.

Jackie won.

"Nice game, but you have to admit, for just learning this game I didn't do too bad." He said.

"Not bad at all." Jackie agreed.

They were having so much fun that neither wanted to quit but both of them were tired so finally they agreed to end the evening and go to bed.

The next morning when they woke up Nick packed up all of his stuff and then loaded his suitcase into her car and then the two of them headed to breakfast. They had a nice time but all too soon it was time for them to head to the airport. The couple just stared at each other while holding hands. Neither wanted to face the fact that their short time together had already come to an end.

"Come with me while I check in." Nick finally said.

Jackie walked with him hand in hand to the check in counter.

When Nick was checked in he glanced at his watch, "Jackie I better head to security." He said, not at all wanting to let go of her hand.

"Ok, I'll see you in two months when I come to visit you." She said determined not to cry.

"Alright I can't wait. Oh and in the mean time I'm going to teach Warrick how to play 500 rummy so I can get some practice for when you come, that way we can have a rematch." He said with a laugh.

"I look forward to the challenge." Jackie said with a grin.

"Goodbye Jackie." Nick said as he finally let go of her hand.

He leaned over and gave her a kiss.

"Bye Nick." Jackie said.

He smiled and then he turned and headed to security. Jackie watched until he was no longer visible.

She wished she had a time machine so she could jump two months into the future.

Sorry this chapter is so long. Please review!


	9. Chapter 9

The Beginning

Chapter 9: Meeting the Gang

Jackie's plane was about to land. There had been a two hour delay because of bad weather but finally the plane was able to take off. Now in just minutes she would get to see Nick again. The only bad thing was that like Nick, she could only stay in Vegas for 2 days.

She got off the plane and found Nick.

"Hi, sorry for the delay, I told you the weather where I'm from stinks."

Nick laughed "No problem, you are well worth the wait."

She smiled as he grabbed her suitcase with one hand and her hand with his other. He led her to his car and then drove to his apartment.

He showed her around the apartment, and where she would be staying and then he asked her "What do you want to do tonight?"

"I'm not sure, how about you?" She answered.

"Well I was thinking that we could go to dinner and then come back here and have a 500 rummy rematch." He said with a grin.

She laughed "That sounds like fun to me." She said.

"Good, and you should be worried, I have been practicing a lot with Warrick." He said.

Once again she laughed "I'm scared." she said with a smile.

The two left and headed to dinner.

When they got back Nick poured two glasses of wine and got out his playing cards. The couple played cards for over two hours and neither had gotten enough points to win. Finally both were getting very close to winning; Nick was only ten points ahead.

"You're turn to deal." Jackie said as she handed him the cards.

"This hand could decide who wins." Nick said as he looked at the notepad in front of him which had the score on it.

Jackie nodded.

When Nick had dealt the cards Jackie flipped hers over and she could hardly keep the smile off of her face. Since it was her turn to go first, she laid all her cards on the table.

"Rummy." She said with a grin as she discarded her one leftover card.

Nick's jaw dropped. "How did you, what, how." He stammered.

"You shouldn't have dealt me such good cards. Thanks for that by the way." She said still grinning at him.

Nick couldn't help himself, he had to smile too. "Well you won." He declared as he admitted defeat.

"Good game though." Jackie said.

"Yeah, it would have been better if I won though." Nick said with a laugh.

Jackie laughed too and then looked at her watch "It's two thirty in the morning." She said completely surprised.

"Wow I didn't realize it had gotten so late." Nick said.

"Me neither, but I am tired." Jackie said.

"Me too." Nick said with a yawn.

"Goodnight." Jackie said getting up from the table.

"Night Jackie." Nick said with a smile and then he remembered something "Oh wait Jackie I was going to ask you something."

"Yeah?" she asked.

"I was wondering how you would feel about going to a college football game tomorrow. Warrick has two tickets but now he has court tomorrow and so he can't go. He asked me if we would want them."

"What did he do?" Jackie asked surprised.

"What do ya mean?" Nick asked.

"Why does he have court, what did he do?" she asked again.

Nick laughed "Oh no, it's not for him, he's presenting evidence at a trial tomorrow that's all."

"Oh ok, good." Jackie said with a laugh.

Nick smiled.

"Well goodnight." Jackie said again.

"Hey wait, you never answered me, would you like to go to the game?"

"Oh sorry, yeah I'd love to go, that sounds like a lot of fun." She said.

"Really, you're not just saying that are you?" Nick asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, really, I think it would be fun." Jackie assured him with a laugh.

Nick was finally convinced and so both of them went to bed.

The next morning Nick got up and made breakfast for the two of them and then they got ready to go.

After they had gotten ready Nick and Jackie drove over to Warrick's house and got the tickets for the game and then the two of them headed to the stadium. They found their seats right as the game started.

"Are you having fun?" Nick shouted during the second quarter of the game.

He had to shout or she would not have been able to hear him, there was over fifty thousand people and they were all screaming and cheering.

"Yes, this is incredible." She shouted back.

Nick could tell by her body language and the smile on her face that she really meant it.

The home team won by a last second touchdown and everyone went bananas.

When they finally got back to Nick's car Jackie said "That was so much fun, I've never been in a crowd with so many people. I love to watch the games on T.V but it is so much better watching it in person."

"I'm glad you had fun, and you're right it is 10 times better watching it in person than on T.V." He said with a smile.

Next the two of them decided to go to dinner and after dinner Nick stopped and rented a movie, a comedy of course. When they got home Nick made popcorn and then the two of them snuggled on the couch to watch the movie. They both enjoyed the movie immensely.

After the movie was over they went to bed.

The next day Nick again got up and made breakfast, Jackie offered but Nick was stubborn and would have no part of it.

After breakfast Nick said to her "I have a little surprise for you, hold on a minute."

He left the table and wandered into the other room. He came back a couple minutes later holding a small rectangular box.

"Here, open it." He said handing it to her.

She gave him a suspicious smile before opening it. Inside there were two concert tickets to her favorite singer for that evening.

"Nick, I can't believe you remembered who my favorite singer was."

He grinned at her.

"Do you remember how you were going to come next week instead of this one, but I told you this week would be better for me because I had a work commitment that I couldn't miss next week?"

"Yeah." She answered.

"Well I have a confession to make, that was a lie, I have no work commitment at all, I just wanted you here this week because I knew she'd be here on tour." He said with a grin as he nodded at the tickets. Then he laughed and added "And I'm really glad you bought the lie because I had already purchased the tickets and I think I would have had a hard time convincing Warrick to go to something like that with me."

Jackie laughed.

"Thank you so much." She said as she leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"No problem." He said with a smile, it made him feel good to know that he had made her so happy.

Jackie glanced at the tickets, "We better get ready, the concert starts in two and a half hours." She said.

Nick nodded and so both of them hurried to get ready.

Jackie had a complete blast at the concert, she couldn't remember the last time she had so much fun and even though it wasn't Nick's favorite kind of music he also enjoyed himself, mostly because he loved seeing her have so much fun.

After the concert they went to a Chinese restaurant.

"Nick, I can't thank you enough for getting those tickets, that concert was amazing." She said for the one hundredth time.

"You're welcome." He said with a smile.

After they ordered Nick looked at her and said "Jackie, my coworkers really want to meet you, would you be willing to come to the lab with me and meet them tonight?"

"Sure, you talk so highly about them, I've been wanting to meet them."

"That's good, and it's a relief." He said with a laugh.

"Why?" She asked with a chuckle.

"Because Catherine has been nagging me nonstop to bring you down to the lab to meet everyone, I think if she found out that you were here again and I didn't introduce you to her I'm pretty sure she would strangle me."

Jackie laughed, "Um maybe I don't want to meet her." She said jokingly.

Nick laughed "She'll be nicer to you than she is to me I promise."

"Ok then." Jackie grinned.

The couple ate their dinner and then went back to Nick's apartment to play board games until it was time for the graveyard CSI team to start their shift.

Nick grabbed her hand as they walked into the lab. First Nick led her to the break room where a young brunette woman sat drinking coffee.

"Hey Nick." The woman said with a smile when Nick walked into the room.

"Hey Sara" Nick answered.

"Jackie this is Sara Sidle, Sara, this is Jackie." Sara immediately got up and shook her hand.

"Jackie I've heard so much about you, it's so good to finally meet you."

"Thank you Sara. I've also heard a lot about you, it's good to meet you too." Jackie said with a smile.

"Whatever Nick says about me is a lie, don't believe him." Sara said with a smile.

"Oh no, Nick has said nothing but good things about you." Jackie assured her.

"Oh well in that case believe everything he says."

Jackie laughed "Will do." Jackie promised.

The two women glanced at Nick who was grinning.

Nick went over and grabbed Jackie's hand "Come on, you have a lot more people to meet, and I'm afraid if we don't meet them soon, they'll all get assignments and we'll miss them." He said as he started to lead her out of the room.

"Bye Sara, it was nice meeting you." Jackie said before leaving the room.

"Likewise." Sara said with a smile.

Nick stopped at an office door but the light was off and the door was closed and so next he took her too another office. That door was open and a man was sitting at his desk, Jackie recognized the man, it was Gil Grissom.

"Hey Gris." Nick said as he knocked on the door.

"Hey Nick, I thought it was your night off." Grissom said as he looked up from his stack of papers.

"It is, I'm just introducing her to everyone." Nick said.

Grissom eyed Jackie closely and then he realized he recognized her.

"I remember you, you were one of the ladies in that hotel room with the spider."

Jackie smiled "Hi Mr. Grissom." She said politely.

"Hello, I am sorry but I don't remember your name

"Jackie." She said.

"Hi Jackie." Grissom said with a smile.

"_I swear this man must not pay any attention to anything anyone says if it does not involve a crime scene or bugs. I've only been talking about Jackie for months now."_ Nick thought to himself but he would never say anything like that to Grissom's face.

"I still have that spider you know." Grissom said looking at Jackie.

"That's nice." Jackie said, she wanted to be polite but she didn't know what to say.

"Would you like to see it?" Grissom asked.

"No, that's ok, you look busy, I don't want to bother you." Jackie said, trying to think of anything she could to get out of seeing a spider but at the same time she didn't want to offend her boyfriend's boss.

"Well I do have a lot of paperwork to finish. Would it be alright if I showed you the next time you came by?"

"Yes that would be just fine." Jackie said somewhat relieved.

"Good." Grissom said.

"Hey Gris, you wouldn't happen to know where Brass is would you?" Nick asked quickly changing the subject, he knew that Jackie was not all that comfortable talking about a spider.

"I don't know, maybe he got a call out." Grissom answered.

"Alright, see you tomorrow." Nick said grabbing Jackie's hand as he turned to leave, but then he turned back to face Grissom again.

"Do you know where Catherine is?" He asked his boss.

"No, but I didn't give her an assignment yet so she should be around her somewhere."

"Alright thanks, see you later." Nick said as he once again turned to leave.

"Bye Nick." Grissom answered. "Goodbye Jackie." He added.

"Goodbye Mr. Grissom." Jackie said as she followed Nick out the door.

They walked a little ways down the hallway and reached a door before Nick stopped and turned to face her.

"Alright, now be prepared, the next guy that you are going to meet is crazy, but he's really nice."

Jackie laughed "Alright" She said.

When they walked into the room a younger man had headphones on and he was bopping his head up and down with the music.

Nick shook his head. "Greg" he said but the guy didn't hear him.

"Greggo." Nick said a little louder but still the young man didn't look up.

Nick let go of Jackie's hand and went over to him and lifted the headphones off his head "Sanders." He said rather loudly which finally got his attention.

"Hey Nick." Greg said.

When he noticed Jackie standing in the room he got a big grin on his face.

"Hi" He said as he stood up and walked over to her.

"Greg, this is Jackie, Jackie this is Greg Sanders." Nick said.

"Hi Jackie I've heard a lot about you." He said still smiling.

Jackie was about to say it was nice to you too but Greg cut her off "I've heard about how pretty you are and that you are an exceptional kisser." He said with a smirk.

Jackie looked over at Nick and his face was beat red.

"Oh shut up Sanders, you have not." Nick growled.

Greg noticed his friend's face and his grin got even bigger

"I really like to embarrass him." He told Jackie.

"I see that." Jackie couldn't help herself, she had to laugh

"Jackie have you ever seen a human skin cell under a microscope before?" Greg asked her.

"No I can't say that I have."

"Would you like to?" Greg asked.

"Yeah, sure." Jackie said.

"Alright then, you're in luck, come right this way." Greg said.

Jackie followed him across the room and sitting on a little table there was a microscope.

"Just look in there." Greg instructed.

Jackie did, it looked pretty cool, a lot different then she expected.

"Neat." She said.

"Yeah, it is pretty cool, I scraped a skin cell off of my date last night and I am now analyzing it, she's so pretty, our children are going to be gorgeous."

Jackie immediately looked up from the microscope and looked at Greg as if he had grown a third eye right in front of her. Greg saw the look on Jackie's face and started laughing.

"I'm just kidding." He said with a smile.

Jackie smiled back and then she glanced over at Nick. Nick was rubbing his temples as if he had a terrible headache.

"Would you like to see some more fun science stuff?" Greg asked.

"Sure." Jackie said.

He showed her a couple of machines and then he started going through drawers, he opened one and then immediately shut it.

"You don't want to see what's in there, that's where I keep all my porn." He said with a grin.

"Sanders." Nick growled.

"Once again, just kidding." Greg said with a smirk.

Nick immediately went over and grabbed Jackie's hand. "I think we better go." He said as he tugged on Jackie's hand.

"Bye Greg, it was nice meeting you. Thanks for showing me all that stuff." Jackie said as her and Nick left.

"You're welcome, it was nice to meet you too." She heard Greg say even though she and Nick were already back out in the hallway.

"I'm so sorry about that, I told you he was crazy." Nick said.

Jackie laughed "It's alright, he was just messing with you, if you didn't let it get to you he probably wouldn't do it." Jackie said.

"You're right, but I am sorry."

"Don't worry about it." She assured him as she gave his hand a squeeze.

Then Jackie grinned at Nick "So I take it Greg is the class clown of the group?" She asked.

Nick laughed "Yeah, you could say that." He said.

Jackie smiled at him "I don't have a problem with class clowns, they make things fun." She said.

"Then I bet you liked Greg." Nick said with a laugh.

"I did, he was funny. Actually everyone that I have met so far have been really nice.

Nick smiled "I told you they were a great bunch of people."

They walked a little further down the hallway before stopping in front of a door labeled morgue.

"Come on. I'll introduce you to our head coroner next." Nick said as he started to open the door but Jackie hesitated.

"Um Nick, I'm not sure I feel comfortable going into the morgue, it's kind of creepy." She said.

Nick hadn't even considered the morgue might freak her out. "Oh I'm sorry about that, you wait out here and I'll go get him." He said.

She smiled "Thank you." She said.

Nick just nodded as he opened the door and disappeared inside.

Soon after, Jackie felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see a guy she didn't know.

"You must be Mrs. Morris, I'm so sorry for your loss."

Jackie was just about to tell this man that she was not Mrs. Morris when Nick and an older gentleman on crutches walked out of the morgue.

"Hi Super Dave, I see you've met my girlfriend Jackie. Jackie this is the assistant coroner David Philips" Nick said to the man that had tapped Jackie on the shoulder.

"Oh, I'm so sorry I thought you were someone else." Super Dave said.

"That's alright, it's nice to meet you." Jackie said with a smile.

"Likewise." Dave said.

"And Jackie this is Doc Robbins." Nick said motioning to the older man.

"Hi." Jackie said shaking his hand.

"Hi, it's a pleasure to meet you." Doc Robbins said with a warm smile on his face.

The four of them stood and talked for a few minutes before Nick decided that he and Jackie should go find Catherine.

"Nice meeting both of you." Jackie said once more before following Nick down the hallway.

"Hey Nicky." A voice called so Nick and Jackie turned around and saw Warrick jogging to catch up to them.

"Hey Rick." Nick said.

"Warrick, thank you so much for the football tickets." Jackie said.

"No problem, did you guys have fun?" He asked.

"Yeah it was awesome, thanks again."

"I saw the highlights on T.V, it looked like a good game." Warrick said.

"It was." Jackie responded.

"How did court go yesterday?" Nick asked his friend.

Warrick shook his head in disgust "Not good, the lady got off, and I thought the case against her was so strong." He said.

"Tough break man, I guess you can never predict what a jury is going to do." Nick said.

"You're right, on to the next case I guess huh? Warrick said.

"That's about how you have to look at it." Nick agreed.

Warrick wanted to change the subject "So Jackie, why on earth are you still putting up with this guy?" He asked as he smirked at his best friend.

Jackie laughed but Nick gave his friend a dirty look.

"Why is everyone a comedian around here tonight?" Nick mumbled.

Warrick laughed "Just kidding man." he assured him and then he added "I don't mean to be rude but I have someone waiting for me in interrogation so I have to run, but it was nice to see you again Jackie."

"Nice to see you again to Warrick." Jackie said.

"Later man." Nick said to his best friend."

"Later" Warrick said with a wave as he started down the hallway.

"Hey Rick wait, do you happen to know where Catherine is?" Nick called down the hallway.

"I haven't seen her, sorry." Warrick called back before he disappeared around the corner.

Nick sighed, "I wonder where she is." He said as he once again grabbed Jackie's hand.

Nick could only think of one more place to look.

"Cath." He called as he stuck his head in the locker room.

"In here Nicky." A voice called back.

"Finally." Nick said with a smile as he led Jackie into the locker room.

Catherine was sitting on a bench in front of a row of lockers but as soon as she saw Jackie she jumped up.

"Hi, you must be Jackie, it is so good to finally meet you." She said as she wrapped Jackie in a hug.

"Hi Catherine, it is good to finally meet you too." Jackie said, hugging her back.

"Nick's right, you are very pretty." Catherine told Jackie.

"Thank you. I have heard nothing but great things about you Catherine." Jackie said, she could feel herself start to blush.

Catherine glanced at Nick, "That's good to know." She said with a grin.

Jackie laughed.

"Let me tell you this Jackie, Nick is a great guy, but if he gives you any grief just let me know and I will set him straight.

Jackie chuckled "Alright I will." She said.

They talked for a few more minutes before saying their goodbyes.

After they had said goodbye to Catherine, Nick and Jackie left the lab.

"You're coworkers are all so friendly and so very nice." Jackie said as they were driving back to Nick's apartment.

She was amazed at how well everyone seemed to get along, that's rare among coworkers.

"Yeah they are, I am really lucky to work with such a fantastic bunch of people." Nick said.

Jackie had an early flight out of town the next morning so when they got back to Nick's apartment they decided to go to bed. The next morning Jackie packed her suitcase while Nick made breakfast.

After breakfast Nick took her to the airport. She put off going through security for as long as she could.

"I'll see you in a couple months." Nick told her.

"I can't wait." She said quietly.

She leaned over and gave him a kiss and then she turned and headed for security.

After she had got on the plane she thought about this trip to Vegas, it was easily the best vacation she had ever been on.


	10. Chapter 10

The Beginning

Chapter 10 Meeting Her Family

Jackie had just picked Nick up from the airport and she was now driving to her apartment. As if 2 days wasn't a short enough visit, because of being so slammed at the lab, Nick could only stay 2 nights and only 1 full day. Although it was an incredibly short trip both agreed that 1 day was way better than nothing. They were driving along in happy silence when Jackie finally spoke.

"I have some news." She said.

Nick raised his eyebrow

"What is it?" He asked curiously.

"I told my family about us." She confessed.

To her relief he broke out into a huge grin.

"What did they say?" He asked.

"They were very happy for me and they want to meet you right away but I told them I had to see how you felt about meeting them first."

Again he smiled.

"I'd love to meet them." He said sincerely.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Absolutely."

Jackie was very happy with his response.

When they got to her apartment Nick unloaded his suitcase from the car. After he had gotten settled he sat down on the couch and Jackie sat down next to him.

She grabbed his hand and then said "Since you want to meet my family I was thinking that tomorrow we could go over to my grandma's house and have dinner with them. That is where we have all our family gatherings because she has the biggest house out of all of us. How does that sound to you?"

"It sounds great." He said.

She smiled "Good, I'm going to call my mom and let her know, she is going to be so excited." She said before getting off the couch and grabbing her cell phone.

She talked to her mom for a few minutes and then rejoined Nick on the couch.

"She said that we are having dinner at my grandma's tomorrow and that she and the rest of my family are thrilled to get the opportunity to meet you." Jackie said.

Nick responded with a smile.

The following evening as Jackie and Nick were driving to her grandmother's house Jackie was nervous. She was very close to her family and she loved her family dearly but she knew that sometimes they were crazy. When they all got together, there were 10 of them in total and they were not quiet, they all liked to laugh and have fun but sometimes they were a little too crazy and she hoped that they wouldn't scare Nick away.

"Nick I should warn you, my family is not shy, and we are very protective of one another so if they ask you crazy questions don't take it personally alright."

Nick laughed "Hon I work with murders on a daily basis, I don't think your family is going to do me in."

As Jackie pulled into her grandmother's driveway she hoped that Nick was right.

When they walked in the front door it was chaotic as usual, people were running every which way trying to get everything ready and several conversations were happening at once but as soon as everyone saw Nick and Jackie they all stopped dead in their tracks. "Hi" everyone said happily.

After the table had been set everyone sat down and Jackie introduced Nick to everyone. Nick smiled at everyone and shook everyone's hand, and then the questions began.

"So Nick where are you from?" Jackie's uncle Dean asked.

"I'm originally from Texas but now I live in Vegas." Nick answered.

"What is it that you do for a living?" Jackie's other uncle Rodney asked.

"I'm a crime scene investigator." Nick replied.

"What does that entail exactly?" Jackie's grandma asked.

"We go to crime scenes and collect the evidence and then hopefully make an arrest and get a conviction based on the evidence that we collect."

"Isn't that really dangerous?" Jackie's aunt Kathy asked.

"It can be, yes. Fortunately though I work with a great team and we always have each others' backs." Nick said.

Kathy nodded.

Dinner went great, everyone seemed to love Nick and Nick seemed to like her entire family.

After dinner everyone sat around and laughed and joked with one another. Jackie got up to get a bottle of water out of the fridge.

"Hey Jackie while you're up would you go get the cake from the downstairs refrigerator?" Her other aunt Rachel asked.

"Sure." Jackie replied.

When Jackie returned from downstairs Nick was gone.

"Where's Nick?" She asked somewhat worriedly.

"He's in the front room with Dean and Rodney." Kathy replied.

"_Uh-oh"_ Jackie thought.

Her two uncles liked to joke around but sometimes they could go too far, there was no telling what they were saying to Nick. Jackie hurriedly went into the other room.

"Shhh here comes Jackie." Her uncle Rodney whispered when she entered the room. He always did that to her, mainly to irritate her but this time it worried her.

"_Oh God."_ Jackie thought to herself.

"Is everything ok?" She asked Nick as she sat down on the couch next to him.

"Yeah." He said with a smile.

"You sure?" Jackie asked.

"Everything's fine." He assured her.

Jackie then stood up.

"You two behave." She said as she shot her uncles a no nonsense look.

"We always do." Her uncle Dean said.

"Yeah right." Jackie said.

She heard her uncles laugh as she left the room. She rejoined the rest of her family in the other room.

"So, what do you all think?" She whispered so Nick wouldn't hear.

"He's very nice."

"Charming."

"Extremely good looking."

Those were just some of the comments Jackie heard. She felt like her heart was going to explode from happiness, she was so excited that everyone liked Nick.

When Nick and Jackie left her grandmother's house she was still thrilled.

"So what did you think of everyone, and be honest." She said as the two drove back to her apartment.

"You're family is awesome Jackie, you worried for absolutely nothing."

"Really?" She asked.

"Yes really, everyone was so nice. They are also extremely funny. It's nice to see a family that is so close and comfortable with one another that they can joke around with each other like that and not get upset or offended. That is pretty rare to see."

"I thought your family was extremely close too?" Jackie asked.

"Oh we are, don't get me wrong, it's just that my family is more formal. Like for example if we are sitting around the dinner table there is one person talking and the rest of us are listening, there aren't 5 different conversations going on at once like with your family and we would never be able to say things like your family does to one another without someone getting angry. Like when your cousin told your aunt that her shoes didn't go well with the outfit and she just laughed. In my family we would never say anything like that to one another because someone would get mad."

Jackie laughed and said "Yeah Travis always says stuff about everyone's outfit, he can't help himself. In fact I'm surprised he didn't say anything about yours or mine because he always has something to say, we all just roll our eyes and laugh."

Jackie then grinned at Nick and added "I warned you that my family was crazy. I'm sorry if they went a little too far though."

"Oh no, not at all, I had a lot of fun, you're family is very entertaining." Nick assured her.

"I'm also sorry about all the questions everyone asked you, you probably felt like you were being interrogated." She said.

"It's alright, they just did that because they care about you so much. They don't want you going with someone who isn't going to treat you right." He said with a thoughtful smile.

"Can you possibly get any sweeter?" Jackie asked.

Nick laughed "I can try." He joked.

Jackie grinned at him.

"I wish you didn't have to go home tomorrow." She said.

"Me too, but two months always goes by fast, just remember that."

She smiled.

The following morning at the airport he gave her a hug and a kiss before letting her go and as she watched him go through security she just kept telling herself that the next two months would go by fast.


	11. Chapter 11

The Beginning

Chapter 11

Jackie was so nervous. She was nervous because she was on her way to meet Nick's family for the first time. She felt like she might throw up.

She had managed to get a couple additional days off so instead of spending all of her next vacation in Vegas Nick wanted her to come with him to Texas to meet his family, and so she had flown to Vegas and then she and Nick had caught a flight to Texas together. They were now in a rental car on his way to his parents' house.

Nick looked over at her and saw the look on her face.

"Relax, they are going to love you. Almost as much as I do." He said as he reached over and gave her hand a squeeze.

"Thank you." She said giving him a slight smile.

When they pulled in the driveway she took a deep breath. They walked hand in hand up to the front door. Nick rang the doorbell. A woman answered the door.

"Hi, you must be Jackie, I'm Jill, Nick's mother, come in." She said as she wrapped Jackie in a hug.

She then grabbed Jackie by the shoulders and led her into the house leaving Nick standing on the front porch alone!

"Hi Mom, nice to see you too." Nick said with a grin.

"Hi Nicky, come in and shut the door." She said as she continued to lead Jackie by the shoulders.

"You have a beautiful home." Jackie said and she wasn't saying it just to be polite, the house was huge and it looked like it had been professionally decorated.

"Thank you dear." Jill said with a smile.

They reached the dining room which had a huge table. Tons of people already sitting down. After they had sat down Nick introduced Jackie to everyone. Everyone greeted Jackie in a very friendly manor but when they began to eat Jackie saw what Nick meant when he had said that his family was more formal than her own. When someone spoke everyone else listened intently, no one else said a word, they were stone silent.

"Mommy." One of Nick's little nieces said.

"Maci your grandfather is speaking, don't interrupt."

"Sorry mommy." The little girl said quietly.

She had a sad expression on her sweet little face and she looked like she might cry. Nick saw the look on Maci's face so he made a funny face at her to make her giggle.

"Nicholas." His mother said sternly.

"Sorry mom." Nick said immediately.

"_These people are horrible, how did Nick get to be so sweet?"_ Jackie thought to herself.

Then she reprimanded herself _"You don't know them very well, don't judge them yet."_

Jackie also found it odd that no one was asking her questions, although she was happy that Nick's family wasn't grilling her like her family had done to Nick.

After dinner Nick went over to his little niece and picked her up.

"You got me in trouble Maci." Nick said as he began to tickle her.

"Sorry uncle Nicky." She said giggling.

Nick then put her down.

"Come outside and play catch with me." Maci said.

Nick glanced at Jackie and then said "I can't right now kiddo, maybe later though."

Maci looked disappointed but only for a minute. Then she turned her attention to Jackie

"Your shoes are pretty." She told Jackie.

"Thank you sweetheart." Jackie said with a smile.

What Maci said next shocked Jackie.

"Are you guys going to have a baby?" She asked innocently.

"No Sweetie." Jackie managed.

"Maci, kiddo, why would you ask that?" Nick asked the little girl.

"Because you keep holding her hand." Maci replied before wandering outside.

Nick looked at Jackie and grinned "Kids" He said.

She laughed.

"You should go." She said.

"Go where?" Nick asked confused.

"Go outside and play catch with her." Jackie said.

Nick smiled and said "Alright, come outside and watch us."

So the two of them went outside. They found Maci sitting in a chair on the porch.

"Hey Maci, do you still want to play catch?" Nick asked.

"Yes." She said excitedly as she hurriedly got up out of the chair and ran down the steps to the grass.

Jackie smiled as she sat down in the chair that Maci had just occupied.

"Come play with us Aunt Jackie." Maci called.

Jackie smiled_ "Aunt Jackie"_ she thought to herself as she went to join Nick and Maci on the grass.

She glanced over at Nick to see if Nick had realized what his niece had just said and the smile on his face told her that he had in fact noticed.

"_He's good with kids."_ Jackie thought to herself as she watched Nick interact with the little girl.

All three of them had fun playing catch and when they were done they sat on the porch and had a glass of lemonade.

Over the next couple of days as Jackie spent more time with Nick's family she realized that they were not horrible people at all, just very different from her own family. Jackie found that she got along well with his family, especially Nick's mom which she took as a very good sign.

When it was time to head back to Vegas everyone said their goodbyes and as Nick and Jackie drove to the airport Jackie couldn't help but secretly hope that this would not be the last time that she would see Nick's family.

**I'm sorry I took so long to update but I had the entire chapter ready to post and then it accidently did not get saved so I had to rewrite the entire thing! Thanks for your patients, I hope you enjoy it, and as always reviews are appreciated!**


	12. Chapter 12

The Beginning

Chapter 12: Questions

"Hello." Jackie said as she picked up the phone.

She was in her office at her apartment working on some things for work. She had been home from meeting Nick's family for a couple of weeks now but she still felt somewhat behind at work although she wasn't really

"Hi Jackie."

Jackie's face broke out into a huge smile.

"Hi Nick." She said.

"Jackie listen, I know it's my turn to come up and see you but I just heard that your favorite singer is coming back to Vegas on tour in about a month and a half, do you want to come here instead so we can go to her concert again? If not I understand but if that's the case I'm afraid I'll have to postpone my visit to come see you. Catherine just signed the entire team up for a cancer walk during the time I was suppose to come see you and I don't want to seem like a jerk and not do the walk because it helps raise money for cancer research. Then the week after that I have court for a high profile case I worked on and I absolutely can not get out of it, I'm sorry."

"No problem, yeah, I'd like to go to her concert again, and more importantly I just want to see you."

"Great" Nick said.

Jackie could picture his amazing smile.

"One question though?" Jackie said.

"What's that?" He asked.

"Is the walk around the same time the concert is?" She asked.

"Yeah, it's the day before."

"Ok great, could I do the walk with you guys then?" She asked.

"Oh you'd want to?"

"Sure, it's for a great cause and since I'll be there anyways why not?"

"That's awesome, sure, that would be great, it's open to the public anyway, it's just that the graveyard shift is going as a team, I'll tell Cath to get a shirt for you."

"Ok great thanks Nick." She said happily.

"Sure no problem, I'm sorry but I have to go for now, Grissom is calling me. I'll talk to you soon." He said before hanging up.

Jackie was elated, the only problem was that she now was having a very hard time concentrating on the work she needed to get done.

Time flew by and before she knew it she was meeting Nick at the Vegas airport. The cancer walk was that very night, and then the next night was the concert.

"Hi." He said as he gave her a hug.

"Hi yourself." She said as she hugged him back.

"We better head to my apartment and drop your things off and then we'll head straight to the walk, we'll meet everyone else there, sorry it's so rushed."

"That's ok." She assured him.

They dropped her things off at his apartment and then met Catherine and the rest of the team at the walk. Catherine handed both of them their team shirts.

"There is a bathroom over there that you can go change in." She said nodding her head towards the restrooms.

"Ok, we'll be back in a minute." Nick said.

The couple walked to the bathroom, changed into their shirts, took their other shirts back to Nick's truck and then went and rejoined the others.

"This is a very neat event." Jackie said as looked around at thousands of people while she and the team walked around the track.

"They don't have a walk to raise money for cancer research where you're from?" Catherine asked somewhat surprised.

"Oh yes, we do, it's just nothing like this. All we do at home is walk around the track and they have small trinkets and things that you can buy to help raise money, or if people prefer they can just make donations instead. This though is a full blown carnival, which is a really cool idea, with this many people here they have to be making tons of money, plus all the kids are having a lot of fun." She said as she watched a kid send someone plummeting in water at a dunking booth.

"Hey by the way Nick, I volunteered you to do the dunking booth." Greg said with a smirk.

Nick squinted at Greg "You better hope you're kidding Sanders." Nick said threateningly.

"I am, but boy you should have seen your face." Greg said with a laugh.

"Haha, very funny." Nick said sarcastically.

Everyone besides Nick got a good chuckle.

Everyone had a blast hanging out together for the entire day and more importantly the walk was a huge success, Nick and Jackie heard on the news that night that the walk had raised over $800,000 for cancer research.

"What do you want to do this afternoon since the concert isn't until tonight?" Nick asked breaking through Jackie's thoughts the following morning as she sat at the kitchen table reading the newspaper.

"I don't care, it's up to you." Jackie said.

"Alright, how about we go to breakfast and then head to the strip for some sightseeing?" Nick suggested.

"Sounds good to me." Jackie said.

They had a nice time at breakfast and they enjoyed themselves at the strip. The concert that evening though was Jackie's favorite part, she didn't know if she would enjoy it as much as she had the first time but she actually enjoyed it more the second time around.

The following evening was Jackie's last night in town. Nick took her to a seafood restaurant because seafood is her favorite. Then he took her to a park.

"Do you remember this place?" He asked her as they walked along the pretty landscaped park.

"Sure, you took me here for our first date." She said with a smile as they came upon the fountain that she thought was so pretty.

Nick smiled back, he was happy she remembered. Nick motioned for her to sit down on the edge of the fountain and after she had taken a seat he sat down next to her.

"Jackie we need to talk." He said.

"Ok, what is it?" She asked.

"I've been thinking an awful lot about us and as much as I love you, this long distance relationship is just too hard. I'm sorry but I think we need to end this."

Jackie felt a knot form in her stomach and tears stung her eyes. She had no idea this was coming, she thought everything was going so well.

"I understand." She said quietly as she tried to desperately hold back her tears, but despite her best effort a tear slid down her cheek.

Nick brushed away her tear and said "there is only one way I can think of to do that without us both getting hurt."

Jackie's mouth flew open as he dropped to one knee.

"Jackie, will you marry me?" he asked as he fished a ring box out of his jacket pocket.

Jackie jumped up and threw her arms around him but she didn't say anything.

"Is that a yes?" Nick asked quietly.

"Yes, sorry, that's a yes."

Nick gave her the biggest smile she had ever seen as he slipped the ring on her finger.

Suddenly all of her friends and family as well as Nick's parents and all his friends from the lab jumped out from behind the fountain and the trees. They all clapped and cheered wildly.

Jackie was stunned "What…how…why?" she stuttered.

Nick grinned at her "Surprise." He whispered in her ear.

Happy tears started tumbling down her face.

"Nick, thank you so much. Every little girl dreams about the moment when she gets proposed to and this is better than I could have ever imagined. This is by far the best day of my life."

She looked around at everyone and then added "And the fact that I got to share it with all of you made it that much more special, thank you all for being here."

Everyone just smiled at her.

After a couple of minutes Jackie had finally regained her composure although she was still shaking. For the first time she looked at her new ring.

"Do you like it?" Nick asked.

"It's beautiful, I love it." She said sincerely.

"Good, I'm glad you like it. You can thank Catherine, she helped me pick it out." Nick said with a grin.

Jackie looked over at Catherine who was grinning from ear to ear.

"Good work Catherine." Jackie said with a smile.

"Thank you." Catherine replied with a laugh.

The ring truly was gorgeous; it had a big diamond in the center and then it had two sections of begets on either side of the big diamond.

Everyone crowded around the happy couple to wish them congratulations and to look at the ring.

Later that evening as Jackie lay in bed she stared at her new ring.

"_Mrs. Stokes."_ She said to herself quietly, it had a nice ring to it and she couldn't be anymore thrilled.


	13. Chapter 13

The Beginning

Chapter 13 The Wedding

Jackie had never been so excited or so busy in her entire life. She had no idea that planning a wedding would be so complex, there were so many details that had to be dealt with.

The thing that was stressing Jackie out the most about the wedding right now was the fact that the couple had agreed to write their own vows. They wanted something personal, something from the heart and Jackie was drawing a blank.

She was nervous about the wedding in general anyways, not about marrying Nick, she had never been so sure of anything in her entire life but the fact that she would have to stand in front of all those people made her sick to her stomach.

She stared at the blank piece of paper in front of her where the vows should have been written down. She sighed as she scribbled on the sheet of paper _"Dear Nick, let's drop this formal wedding idea and elope. Love Jackie." _She laughed and then crossed that out.

She glanced around the busy Vegas coffee shop that she was in, most of the people there were typing feverishly on their laptops. She had flown to Vegas a few days ago to help set up the last minute details because the wedding was only one week away. "_I have to focus on the vows"_ she told herself as she again stared at the blank piece of paper in front of her.

"Problems?" A voice behind her asked.

"Oh hi Warrick." She said turning around.

"You look stressed out, what's up?" He asked as he took a seat next to her.

"Oh nothing, I'm just having trouble writing these vows."

"Just try to think of Nick's good qualities, I can't think of very many, I don't really like him very much but hopefully you can think of something, after all you're the one marrying the guy." Warrick said.

The smirk on his face told Jackie that he was just kidding.

Warrick grinned even bigger and said "How about something like: "_Nicky, trying to think of something nice to say about you is tricky. The situations you often find yourself in are icky and somewhat sticky, but maybe that's because you are way too picky." _

Jackie was laughing so hard she couldn't breathe. When she had finally managed to get control of herself she said

"Thanks Warrick I needed a good laugh."

"No problem." He said still grinning.

"Instead of me using that for your vows, maybe you should use that as your best man speech." She said with a laugh.

"Hey, that's not a bad idea. Could you imagine the look on Nick's face if I did?"

"It'd be priceless." Jackie agreed.

"I really should do that, although, I work with the guy every night, and he does carry a gun so maybe that's not a very good idea."

Jackie laughed.

Warrick just grinned.

Just then Jackie's phone started ringing.

"Hello." She said.

"Hey Sweetie where are you?" Nick asked.

"I'm at the coffee shop down the street from your apartment."

"Oh ok, but don't forget we have that cake tasting appointment at four o'clock for the wedding cake." He said.

"Ok, I'll be right home." She said before hanging up.

She had forgotten all about that.

"I'm sorry Warrick but I have to run." She said as she gathered her coffee, pen, and paper.

"Alright, see you later, and if you need anymore help with your vows just let me know." He said with a smirk.

Jackie laughed "will do." She said and then she headed out the door.

Soon after Jackie got back to Nick's apartment they headed to their cake tasting appointment. When they got there a nice woman started asking them all kinds of cake questions.

"What cake flavor would you prefer?"

"Chocolate." Jackie answered.

"Vanilla" Nick said at the same time and then they both laughed.

"Let's have it be chocolate, I don't care, this is your big day, the only thing that matters to me is that you show up." Nick said with a smile.

"He's a keeper." The lady told Jackie.

"I sure think so." Jackie agreed.

"We can do half and half if you want, that way both of you will be happy."

"Sounds good to me." Jackie said.

"Me too." Nick agreed.

"How many tiers do you want the cake to be?" The lady asked.

Nick and Jackie looked at one another and shrugged.

"How many people are going to be there?" The lady asked.

"Around two hundred and fifty." Nick said.

"Alright how about we do four tiers, a large one and three smaller ones. The big tier can be chocolate and the three smaller tiers can be vanilla. How does that sound?"

Nick and Jackie agreed that that sounded like a good idea. Then the couple got to taste all the different chocolate and vanilla flavors. When they had finally decided the woman drew a design of the cake and then showed it to Nick and Jackie to make sure they liked it, they did.

"That was the best appointment I have ever been too." Jackie said after the appointment had ended.

Nick laughed, "Yeah, free cake bites, you can't beat it can you?"

"Nope." Jackie grinned.

While driving back to Nick's apartment he remembered he didn't have anything at home for dinner so the couple went out. When they finally got back to the apartment Nick wanted to relax and watch a movie.

"Sorry babe but I'm tired, I think I'm just going to go to bed." Jackie fibbed, she wasn't really tired, and she would have loved to watch a movie with him but she had to finish those darn vows.

"Oh, ok, are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just tired." She fibbed once more.

"Alright, goodnight." Nick said.

"Night Nick" she said.

She went into her bedroom and grabbed her note pad. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't think of anything to write.

"_If I don't think of something pretty soon, I'm just going to use what Warrick said."_ She thought to herself.

She obviously would never do that, she was just frustrated.

After two and a half hours of working on them, she was finally finished. She was very happy and relieved as she laid her head on her pillow and fell asleep.

The days flew by, they were jammed packed with last minute wedding details.

Finally the big day arrived.

"Are you excited?" Jackie's mom asked as she was helping Jackie put the final touches on her makeup.

"Yes, but I'm a little sad." Jackie confessed.

"Sad about what?" Her mother asked.

"I'm sad that I won't get to see my family as much, I'll miss you all." She said.

"You won't have time to." Her mother said with a smile.

"What do you mean?"

"I wanted it to be a surprise for after the wedding but I guess I'll tell you now. We are all moving to Vegas."

Jackie was stunned.

"But how can you do that, what about dad's job, is he going to retire?"

"No, but the company is granting him a transfer."

"What about Aunt Rachel's job and Uncle Rodney's business?" Jackie asked.

"Rodney is going to sell the business, he is sick of it anyways, you know that. Rachel also managed to get a transfer here, but her company won't let her leave for a couple more months so she and Dean are going to have to stay behind for just a bit."

Jackie smiled, she could not believe how awesome her family is.

"I wonder how Nick is going to feel about this." Her mother said with a grin.

"Oh Nicky will be happy, he likes you guys a lot, in fact I think this will be really good for him because he really misses his family in Texas. Hopefully you guys will help him feel a little less home sick."

Jackie's mother smiled as Jackie threw her arms around her . A couple tears slid down Jackie's face.

"Hey hey now, no crying, you'll make me cry, plus you'll smear your makeup." Her mother said with a warm smile.

An hour later Nick stood at the altar watching Jackie walk down the isle. He couldn't wipe the ear to ear grin off of his face. Nick had never seen anyone look as beautiful as Jackie did at that moment. Her long brown hair was in curls, her eye makeup made her beautiful green eyes shine even brighter than normal, her gorgeous long white dress showed off her cute figure and as she clung to her father's arm she looked up at Nick and smiled, that smile could have lit up a room, and it definitely lit up Nick's heart.

As the ceremony started Jackie realized with surprise that she was not at all nervous about standing in front of all everyone. To her it felt like she and Nick were the only ones in the room, nobody else mattered.

Finally it was the time in the ceremony for the couple to recite their vows to one another.

Nick went first:

_Jackie, knowing you has been by far the happiest time of my life. I love you more than you will ever realize. From the first moment I saw you I knew that there was nobody I would rather spend the rest of my life with and I promise that I will love you forever. Whenever you need a shoulder to cry on, I will be there, forever. Whenever you need someone to make you laugh, I will be there, forever. You will be mine and I yours, forever. I look forward to our future together with great anticipation. I love you with all of my heart._

Jackie was crying so hard she could not speak.

"I'm sorry" she croaked as she wiped her tears away with a tissue the minister gave her.

She took a deep breath and managed to compose herself again.

_Nick, you are by far the sweetest, kindest, and most caring person I have ever met. Those are just a few of the many traits I love about you. I have loved every moment I have ever spent with you. No one has ever come close to making me as happy as you make me. I too look forward to our future and I could not imagine embarking on this wonderful journey with anyone else. I love you._

Nick tightened the grip on her hand and his smile got even bigger.

After what seemed like a lifetime the minister finally said the words both of them had been waiting to hear.

"I now pronounce you man and wife, you may kiss the bride."

Nick wrapped his arms around her and gave her a tender kiss.

Everyone clapped and cheered and as the couple walked out of the church all of the guests continued to cheer as they threw rice on them. Nick and Jackie laughed as they quickly made their way into the awaiting limo.

"You look good with rice in your hair." Nick joked on the way to the reception.

Jackie laughed "So do you."

Nick grinned at her and then his facial expression turned more serious.

"You look incredible, I love your dress, although I am glad that I hadn't seen it before today, it was more exciting that way."

"Thank you, I'm glad you like it. Oh and you don't look too bad yourself in that tuxedo."

Nick smiled "Thank you." He said.

It wasn't long before they arrived at the reception hall. When they walked in, arm in arm the DJ said

"Please help me welcome for the very first time Mr. and Mrs. Nick Stokes."

Once again all of their friends and family started cheering wildly.

Nick and Jackie had their first dance as husband and wife. Then Jackie danced with her dad and after that Nick danced with his mother.

Once those three dances were over everyone started dancing. People had a great time at the reception, laughing, eating, dancing and joking with one another. Nick was just about to steal Jackie away from a table of her friends so they could dance again when Nick's little niece Maci came up to him

"Uncle Nicky, will you dance with me?" She asked with a sweet smile.

He looked at her and smiled "Of course." He said as he grabbed her little hand.

He gave Jackie a wink before leading the little girl on the dance floor.

Minutes later Jackie was on her way to the restroom when Nick grabbed her hand.

"Come with me for a minute." He said as he led her over to the wedding cake.

"What do you think of the cake?" He asked when they were standing in front of it.

"It's beautiful." She said.

"Yeah it is, but do notice something odd about the little bride and groom on top of the cake?"

"What do you mean?" She asked as she looked at the tiny little statues.

"The groom is completely bald." Nick said.

Jackie looked closer and sure enough Nick was right, it was. She couldn't help herself, she burst out laughing. Nick also chuckled.

"Don't say anything, maybe no one will notice." She said.

"Honey we're in a room full of crime scene investigators, trust me, someone is going to notice." He said.

There was not much they could do about it now so the couple just laughed it off and sure enough ten minutes later Greg came up to Nick and said

"Hey Nicky, you're bald."

"What?" Nick asked, pretending he had no idea what he was talking about.

"The little groom on the cake, it's bald."

"I know, keep your voice down." Nick said.

"That's hysterical." Greg said as he burst out laughing.

Nick just shook his head and walked away.

Not long after that Nick was leading Jackie onto the dance floor and on the way there they passed the cake once again.

"What the hell?" Nick said sounding very surprised.

Someone had drawn hair on the little statue with a sharpie the only problem was that instead of drawing hair that looked like Nick's hair the little statue had a mohawk.

Jackie again burst out laughing.

"I wonder who did that?" Nick said.

He had to admit it was pretty funny.

"My guess would be one of my uncles." Jackie said and Nick laughed.

Nick was just about to continue leading Jackie onto the dance floor when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Just thought I would help you out." Greg said as he nodded to the cake with a smirk.

"Greg you are something else, but because I am in a great mood, I'm not going to kill you." Nick said.

"Thanks, I appreciate that." Greg said before walking away.

Nick just rolled his eyes.

Overall everyone had a wonderful time at the wedding. Jackie could not have asked for a more special day and Nick was equally as thrilled because he got to marry the woman of his dreams.

That is the end of the story! I hope you enjoyed it! Thank you to everyone that has read this story! Also thank you to those who write reviews, that is what makes this so much fun! Without readers and reviewers it would be pointless and so I truly appreciate it! This story was different than any I have ever written because it is so long, usually I prefer writing one shots but I have actually enjoyed writing this! If you can think of anymore stories you'd like me to do for milestones in their relationship just shoot me a personal message! I am thinking about writing one where Nick and Jackie go house hunting!


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